Thursday, July 31, 2014

Weekend Cooking

Dating back to the 1930s, this warehouse is located west of downtown Toronto in the West Queen Street neighborhood. It previously had been used as a Ce De Candy Company factory, the makers of Rockets called Smarties in the States. Ce De Candy's Canadian operations were first established in Toronto, Ontario in 1963, and were later moved to Newmarket in 1988.The Canadian Smarties go by the name Rockets to avoid confusion with Nestle’s candy coated chocolate Smarties

The six-story post and beam loft building now houses 121 loft units. Some of the amenities enjoyed by the residents include 24-hour concierge service, a party room, a guest suite, fitness room, roof terraces and wide hallways.

The Chocolate Co Lofts, formerly the Patterson Chocolate factory was converted in 2004 by Plazacorp. The building houses 144 lofts.

John Patterson and Robert Wilson launched the Boston Candy Company as a retail store on Yonge Street in 1888. Soon after Wilson’s retirement in 1891, Patterson bestowed his name on the company and expanded into manufacturing with a successive series of plants along Queen Street West. Among the company’s claims was the opening of Canada’s largest soda fountain on Yonge Street in 1911, which promised patrons “the most delightful cooling drinks you’ve ever tasted.” After Patterson’s death in 1921, his sons William and Christopher took full control of the company. They sold the business to Jenny Lind Candy Shops owner Ernest Robinson in 1947, who maintained the Patterson brand for at least another decade. At the time of Robinson’s purchase, it was noted that many of the employees had long tenures with the company, possibly due to benefits like a cafeteria, music during working working hours (not specified if it was live or piped in), paid holidays, and a generous health plan. Judging by the number of Patterson-sponsored athletic teams mentioned in the sports sections of local newspapers, and sizable donations given to the YMCA, it appears that the company was very interested in the physical health of their employees or wanted to prevent them from suffering the ill-effects of overindulgence on the production line.

The most enduring legacy of Patterson Candy is the plant it built at the southwest corner of Queen Street West and Massey Street in 1912. After an expansion in 1928, the five-storey plant included a printing plant and paper box manufacturing equipment amid its 60,000 square feet of air-conditioned work space. Full O’ Cream and Wildfire bars may be long gone, but you can live sweetly in the old Patterson premises in its current incarnation as the Chocolate Company Lofts.

Interesting about the smarties/rockets! I lived in Toronto when I was young and still love smarties (the chocolates) but the other smarties have long been a family favorite as well. I wonder why I never knew them as rockets--perhaps because my mom is American. Chocolate Company Lofts. Love it!

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About Me

My blog is mainly about our passion for travel with some soap boxing thrown in. There's also my favourite recipes and lots of other stuff that I enjoy. I also have a passion for photography, digital scrapbooking, crafts, and reading. I live in Toronto, was raised in Montreal and was born in Dublin, Ireland where we frequently visit.

We downsized to a condo in 2012 so we can enjoy more time travelling. We have spent the last two winters in the US and Mexico to avoid winter.

December 2014 we drove to Las Vegas and stayed until December 28 2015. We then headed to LAX for a flight to Singapore. From there we will go to Bangkok and then to Cambodia where we will take a Mekong River Cruise and on February 25 we will head to Australia and New Zealand for 33 days.

All writing and photography on Junk Boat Travels are under copyright unless stated otherwise. If you would like to use any of our (my husband's or mine) photographs please contact me first. No pinning please. For more about me go to the About Me page.